Remember When You Were Little?
by nyan-sensei
Summary: Harry reminisces his past when he was first saved by a snarky Snape from the Dursley's at 4 years old, half-mute and sick. Adorable/Little!Harry Cute and very fluffy, I'll only update if you review!
1. Prologue:  A Trip Down Memory Lane

**Hello one and all to my first fanfic, sorry if it sounds stupid but fantasies just kept me up all night until I decided to write them all down once and for all. Honestly, there's not enough wittle/cute Harry and big caring Severus fics these days. I was inspired by ****Little one****, and ****Freaks Aren't Allowed**** to help give me, so NO I am not copying them. I just wanted more of these types of stories around.**

**Also, I'm only going to say this once, but:****CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME, THEY BELONG TO JK ROWLING, AND I ****DON'T ****OWN HARRY POTTER, K? **

So without further ado here's my story:

_Remember When You Were Little_

_Prologue_

Harry Potter, boy savior of the wizarding world, at 15 years of age, was holding up a polished black wooden picture frame, with the words _Harry and Sev_ inscribed at the bottom.

Harry sat there, gazing upon the framed photo, with a reminiscing smile on his face.

The picture was that of a small child sitting enthusiastically on an older man's lap. While the child also had his familiar messy black hair along with a smaller version of his wire-rimmed glasses, the dark robed man that towered over him also had a familiar hooked nose and signature scowl. But one would notice thetouch of annoyance as he glanced back at the camera, and the hidden love and adoration in his obsidian eyes as he gazed downwards at his tiny ward being encircled by his arms.

"What are you looking at, Harry?" asked Severus Snape as he swept into the room, noticing the picture he was currently occupied with.

"Oh, nothing really," replied Harry as he returned back to his broken train of thought, smiling incessantly, "just thinking of past days."

Severus glanced at the photo, discovered which one it was, and had to try and hide his own smile that was making across his face.

"Hmph, well," Severus smirked a little as he turned away, "you were especially annoying at that size, not to mention an incessant little bugger that always followed me around the mansion, and couldn't reach the edge of the bed without help," he added with a grin.

"Oh, don't remind me," the younger wizard said with a groan, "My shortness was such a pain in the arse for me, if not easily transportable for you," he glanced up accusingly, but was met with another smirk.

"But I suppose things got better after that rainy day in October," said Harry quietly, "right Papa?" giving a small smile.

"Well," Severus said slowly, "it's been awhile since I've been labeled that name again." Met with another smile

His smirk faded away as he gazed out the window and at the forest beyond, while slowly beginning to recount the past.

**I'm actually going to start rewriting a few parts, but rest assured I'm only just increasing the length to more than 1000 words in each chapter and I'll hopefully be making less author notes around here, don't want to annoy ya'**


	2. Chapter 1: Someone is Coming

_Remember When You Were Little_

_Chapter 1_

It was cold.

VERY cold.

So cold that little Harry had already stopped violently trembling a long time ago, and was instead being warmed up by his increasingly flaming fever.

But it was still freezing, without a doubt, and bone soaking wet; from which Harry learned by sitting in the Dursley's muddy backyard, hugging his small knees to his chest in a fetal position, dressed in Dudley's baggy castoffs.

It was already the midnight of Hallows Eve, and while the weather had been brisk and chilly 5 hours earlier, it was nothing but deathly cold and wet now.

During the early evening, when the parade of children dressed in their costumes were demanding their yearly candy from each house in the neighborhood, Harry had been forlornly looking out the window as groups of children passed by his house, laughing and showing off their new found candy to their friends while they ran from the next house to the next.

The small lad had so badly wanted to join the other group of trick-or-treaters and partake in their nightly fun of running and screaming and stuffing themselves with chocolate and other assortments of sweets, but he knew he wasn't allowed, even without the order laced with disdain given by his Aunt P'tunia, and also because the other children would most likely avoid him.

But harry was okay with this, the children never played with him either, so why should trick-or-treating be any different. He would probably get shoved to the ground, as always, and have his candy stolen by his cousin, Dudley.

Dudley, always the one to get whatever he wanted, had chosen to dress up as a pirate this year, and after much flaunting and jeering off at his small cousin that was without a costume, laughed over his shoulder and skipped out the door, with his similarly fat father, Vernon Dursley, hobbling after him.

Harry was instead given his remaining long list of chores to do from the day, being shoved into his small hands by his sneering aunt, and sharply told to start on them immediately.

Which was also the reason why he was now being brutally yanked by the ear in surprise, and dragged to the back door; after being caught for not wiping the window ledges, and was instead being distracted by the events happening outside.

"So you'd like to go outside instead of doing your chores like a lazy brat, don't you?" Petunia hissed menacingly in his ear.

"Then you can stay outside like a dog until you learn to do your job properly!" and with that, little Harry was grabbed by his neck and harshly thrown out across the backyard.

His head barely missed colliding with a brick that was bordering the garden, while his body skidded into the grass with great force, landing in a heap.

Petunia slammed the door and walked into the living room with a turn on her heels and without a second look behind her back, unfolding a magazine as she waited for the first groups of trick-or-treaters to stop by her door.

While Harry checked his newly developed bruises (a large growing bump on his head and a few rather noticeable crescent-shaped nail marks on his neck) he decided to calmly wait by sitting down on the back doorsteps as he fervently hoped he would still get a morsel of food tonight.

The minutes ticked away and became several hours later when trick-or-treating was done for the night and Dudley and Vernon finally returned home.

Harry knew this when he heard the familiar shout of Dudley's as he exclaimed at the top of his lungs the plethora amount of candy he'd gotten and showing off to his horse-like mother the full sack of candy he'd gotten for the night.

Petunia immediately began to fawn over her little 'candy-looting pirate' as she told him not to "eat all the candy in one night, otherwise you'll get a tummy-ache, Duddykins!" in a loving and cheery tone; although her heeding went unheard as Dudley began shoveling fistfuls of candy into his mouth.

Vernon's loud voice then joined in as he spoke of the proudness for his son as he described of the events that occurred, "Oh, he was a real winner, got to every house on every street and always ahead of the other children, always first!"

Dudley purposefully left out the parts of where he deliberately shoved a few boys and girls down to get to the door first, or perhaps he was too preoccupied in gulping down the delicious sweet candy that he'd stolen from them too, to bother to correct his father of his story.

Harry heard all of this and more as he listened to their joyful chattering and shouts, but none he heard about himself or questions of his whereabouts.

He desperately hoped his auntie would remember that he was still outside so he could return to the warmth inside the house, and perhaps snag something that would ease his growling stomach for a little while.

But she never had the chance to remember, as she and the rest of the family members continued conversing until they retired to their rooms were already fast asleep upstairs, leaving Harry to be forgotten outside in the cold.

He had hoped that it wouldn't get any colder than it already was, cold enough that he could see his own foggy breath, but he was terribly wrong when the first drop of rain landed on his small nose.

The rain had suddenly decided to incessantly pour over the small black-haired head that sat in the midst of it all, as he uselessly tried to press himself closer under the thin, roofless ledge of the door.

His attempts at staying dry were in vain as he was continually pelted by the rain, until he slowly gave up when couldn't feel his lower body anymore, mostly from the numbing coldness that the rain had brought.

A boom of lightning flashed across the sky, but he didn't feel scared as he started to drift into a trance-like state.

He felt sleepy now, as his eyelids started drooping, and he had a final thought, _At least if I pass out now, I won't feel the cold anymore… _But he also realized that he was going to soon die alone.

But someone's voice stopped him from dying just yet.

**Harry**

The child slowly jerked his eyelids open as he heard a sweet voice resonate inside his mind.

**Harry, my sweet child**, said the sweet sounding voice.

_Did somebody really call for me?_ He thought, as he became more fully aware. Rarely anybody called him by his name, he'd been usually called 'freak' or 'boy' so many times; he would often forget his name.

**Little one, you can't go to sleep just yet.**

It was most likely just a dream, no one ever spoke to him in such a loving way, yet he heard it again. Did people normally hallucinate just before they died?

**Someone is coming to save you soon, love, I promise.**

Harry opened his eyes wider as he peered lifelessly at the pouring rain through the fringe that covered his eyes. He tried to remember in the deeply hidden recesses of his mind why the voice sounded so familiar to him, from a time long ago. It sounded almost…motherly…

"Mummy…?" he whispered hoarsely, as the words, _Someone is coming_, continued to echo in his mind; but not before the ghost of Lily Evans disappeared from Privet Drive.

**I apologize for the long wait, even though there's nothing really new, I've recently been studying up for something that took up a whole month's time, even though new ideas were just burning in my mind….rest assured the next chapter is coming its actually almost written right now, and don't forget to leave a review, its what spreads the fame around :D**


	3. Chapter 2: Check on the Potter Brat?

Remember When You Were Little

Chapter 2

Severus Snape, the Head of Slytherin House and the well-known snarky potions master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was brewing a potion in his lab as he always did if he had enough time after grading papers.

It was Halloween, the worst day of the year, when the students gorged themselves on sweets and the Great Hall looked utterly ridiculous, along with the headmaster, who would be sat in his chair, in his outlandish different-colored robes, with that constant smile on his lips.

There was no peace of mind for him until he finally returned to the quietness of his lab in the dungeons, where his headache began to quickly dissipate.

Absentmindedly, he quickly skimmed through all the essays with red ink, leaving more than enough time for a potion to help relax his mind. After all, brewing was what always left him in a better mood than before, as well as helping to relieve any mental stress he had after teaching group after group of dunderheads in his classes each day.

He was beginning to feel calmer while in the process of cutting up some mandrake root, when suddenly, he heard his floo ringing, and Dumbledore's voice calling out to him.

"Severus, are you there my boy?"

"Yes, headmaster, I am," replied the grim potions master, annoyed that his potion would now have to wait.

"Very well, then you would not mind if I perhaps step through and chat a bit about some things with you? It'll only take a short while," answered Dumbledore.

Snape sighed, if the headmaster wanted to 'chat', then it was going to take longer than a 'short' while.

"No," he muttered, "I would not."

"Splendid!" and with that, Professor Dumbledore stepped out of the fireplace

Banishing the soot off his clothes, the old man with his long gray beard tucked into his robe and twinkling eyes behind half-moon glasses would look less like the expected person that was Head of the Wizengamot and Leader of the Light, as well as the most powerful wizard in all of Britain.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, headmaster?" asked Snape

"Now, my boy, just call me Albus, and I am only here in need of a small assistance from you."

As Dumbledore said this, with eyes twinkling madly, Severus arched an eyebrow, knowing that whatever Dumbledore needed from him was going to have to keep his potion waiting a little while longer.

"What is that requires my assistance then, Albus?"

"Well, as you may have already known, today is Hallows Eve, the 4th anniversary of James and Lily's-" Severus flinched, suddenly wishing to change this topic "-death, and so, as I have not the time to do this myself, I need you to go and check up on their son, Harry Pot—"

"YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?"

Dumbledore's face remained neutral, although there was a hint of disappointment in his eyes as he continued speaking.

"I wish for you to -," he started

"Check on the Potter's devil spawn, yes I heard you the first time! And _no_," when Severus saw Dumbledore starting to object he continued, "I will NOT go and check up on the brat to no doubt see him stuffing his spoiled face with candy like a pampered prince!"

"Now Severus, you haven't even met the boy, let alone seen him. He's only 4 years of age—"

"And the most spoiled child, he's even as worse as his father." Severus spit out

"_Severus,_" warned Dumbledore in a stern and cross tone.

As Dumbledore looked over his glasses and spoke to him in such a way, it made Severus feel like a 3rd year again as he quieted and listened to what the headmaster had to say.

"I understand that you and James have had a few trifles against each other," Severus fought to keep from rolling his eyes and objecting while Dumbledore continued, "however, that does not mean you are not required to help carry out this task in which I have politely asked you to do."

"Albus, please, isn't there anyone else in the castle that is more willing to check up on the boy than me? What about Minerva, Hagrid, or by all means, even Filch would be a better candidate than me!" Severus pleaded

"Minerva and the other heads of houses are all busy with classes and such, I'm surprised you still have some free time on your hands. While Hagrid is actually away and taking care of other businesses of mine, I sincerely hope you are only joking about Filch." Dumbledore said sternly

Snape mentally cursed himself for not marking thoroughly and keeping a slower pace on the essays while he retorted back, "Then what is the reason of your absence in taking part of your own duty?"

No sooner than those words slipped out of his mouth did he realize his grave mistake when Dumbledore's eyes flashed with disapproval.

"I, have a meeting in the Department of Ministries, one which I MUST attend in exactly 1 hour and which will last for _quite_ a while."

Severus looked away as Dumbledore continued, "I am disappointed in you Severus, I would think you would be more reliant and responsible to be assigned this task. But now, you no longer have any choice in this matter, and I implore you leave as soon as possible. Goodnight Severus," Dumbledore ended his speech as he went back through the fireplace in which he came from, returning to his own office.

Severus was shocked. He had, for once, truly angered the headmaster, who was very rarely annoyed or irritated - unless his task was truly important enough to Dumbledore that he would become so, displeased.

Without another thought, Severus turned away from the fireplace, now ignited with its original orange flames, and continued to work on his potion.

In the end, Severus decided to retire to his bed, knowing that any more brewing of potions would not help relax his vexed mind.

Speaking of vexed, while lying in his bed, his mind was currently thinking up of every curse he knew of so that he could start cursing the little Potter menace for causing him all this trouble!

Why, if the boy hadn't been such a famous and doted-on child, Dumbledore would have no need to check up on him, thus making him, Severus Snape, given a night to freely brew a potion!

But no, Potter's spawn just HAD to cause some trouble for him, _when he hadn't even stepped a foot inside the school yet._

He would rather be grading papers and brewing new potions than to spend his time acting like a babysitter checking-up on a child, for merlin's sake!

Severus sighed deeply as he summoned an uncorked a bottle of Firewhiskey and poured himself a glass.

No, he would not be checking up on Potter tonight, not in the mood he was currently stewing in, he thought to himself as he downed the drink. He didn't want the headmaster after him if he 'accidentally' threw a curse at the spoiled brat.

He would wait till tomorrow. Yes, that's what he'll do. And besides, tomorrow was a Saturday, plenty of time. And if Dumbledore were to ask for a report, he could always say he had been busy with a potion and decided to check on the brat the next day.

With that reassuring thought in mind, Severus climbed into bed. His last thought, before he succumbed to sleep, was that today marked the four year anniversary of his beloved Lily's death.

He was suddenly dreaming, in a large meadow that stretched far across the horizon. He wondered why he was there until he heard a voice that he hadn't heard from in almost 16 years.

"Severus," she said as Severus immediately spun around facing her, the woman he had loved, the woman that had died that fateful day on October 31. There was Lily Evans, standing not too far away from him, looking as she just had in all her beauty before she passed away.

Her red hair and green eyes were all too painstakingly familiar, to real to be true. Even the dress she wore… he remembered her wearing it when the two of them were still close friends.

"Sev," Lily called to him again.

He knew this all had to be a dream, albeit the most wondrous dream he'd ever have, yet he couldn't stop himself from reaching out and gently stroking her hair.

"Lily? I-is that you?"

She laughed, a beautiful laugh that sounded like wind chimes to him and said, "Yes, it's me, Sev. I've missed you too." Again she flashed him another breathtaking smile.

"Why are you here Lily?" he asked. Was this finally his chance? His chance at fixing everything with her, even if through a dream, but even the deeply scarred pain in his heart after all those years? Could he finally apologize to her?

Her smile suddenly faded away, as did the glowing sunlight that had been shining on the meadow, as if a cloud had just passed overhead.

"I came to ask you to help my son." Her eyes became clouded and distraught as she looked at him. "I need you to help him, he needs help right now, please. Have you "

Severus couldn't say anything. So great was the shock of seeing Lily Evans of all people in his dream and becoming so sad, that he would do anything for her. Forgetting the anger and resentment he had had over the imp a while ago, he personally decided that he could care less about a spoiled Potter brat then doing what Lily wanted him to do, anything for Lily. He had also almost forgotten the promise he had made to protect her son, and if she wanted him to go, then so be it.

"I'll do it. I promise, always." He said to her as he held her hand.

Already the dream realm was beginning to fade out, signaling the end of his experience.

"Thank you, Sev," Lily said, as she too, faded into darkness.

**And Severus, I forgive you**

Severus heard the last of this before he woke up with a start in his own bed. He put his face in his hands as he thought back to the dream he had just had.

Was this a sign? A warning of some sort? Or just his own guttural instinct to follow Dumbledore's instructions and just get the job done already. It couldn't be that hard right? All he had to do was just check on the boy and then he could return to his potions again, simple as that.

He hurriedly dressed in his hooded travelling cloak, suddenly noticing the down pour outside, and also cast a water-proof charm on his clothes.

Whatever reason he was doing this out of, he thought as he threw in the floo powder, it was all for Lily.

"Arabella Fig's house!"

**Sorry for the wait, I originally wanted this chapter to come out on Halloween, but I was busy….again….But at least I made it to 11/11/11! XD I bet some of you guys wished for this story to update, right…? Ah well, at least review, it'll at least make me update faster.**


	4. Chapter 3: Are You My Savior?

Little Harry trembled violently as he felt himself beginning to drift off again. It had only been a short while since the red haired ghost had given him her message that help was coming, but it seemed like it had been ages ago to his small mind.

The rain continued to pour down, drenching the messy-haired child, as he desperately tries to burrow deeper into his wet clothes for warmth; knowing that his attempts were fruitless since there was no body heat to offer, if his frozen-stiff body was any other indication.

_Was help really coming_, he briefly wondered, with his head tucked between his knees, before he was assaulted by another violent spasm up his spine; letting out a hoarse, rasping cough.

Either way, it didn't seem like help was coming anytime soon, less alone come in time to save him from the fuzziness of sleep again that was managing to resurface and pull him back under. It seemed the child wouldn't be escaping death a second time.

_Oh, but the angel's message did sound very promising,_ and he couldn't bring himself to lose his trust over the nice red haired lady, since he only ever trusted few people that were kind and understanding to him.

But it was nice to know someone was kind enough to care about him and stop him from dying just yet; very, very kind of them.

He didn't think he could wait any longer, as his eyelids drooped closed and the black wave blocking his eyesight finally pulled him back under.

After stepping out of Arabella's fireplace in a flurry of green flames, and much apologies for the sudden arrival, Severus Snape was walking briskly down the road through Privet Drive with a notice-me-not charm, trying to locate number four among all the other identical, plain-boxed houses in the pouring rain.

Upon locating the correct house and slipping into the backyard, he was greeted by a sight that shocked him to his very bones

At first glance, it looked as if it were some sort of dying wild animal, yet on closer inspection, realization struck. Lying on the steps to the back door lay a child looking no bigger than 3, with a head of damp, messy black hair connecting with a frail, skinny-looking body.

Besides the lack of a falling chest to indicate his breathing, the small creature was lying on its side, arms and legs splayed out in front of him, hanging limply on the edge of the stairs as if some brute force had tossed him like a bag of rocks. Along with the frozen blue skin, any sane human being would have believed that this child was already dead.

Which, as this thought crossed the potions professor's mind, he had already crossed the length of the area and appeared by the small child's side in a flash.

_This couldn't be the Potter spawn!_ he thought as he quickly assessed the state of the boy

"Please, Merlin, don't let it be him" he muttered.

But upon closer inspection of the heated forehead hidden behind a mop of hair, he was met by the infamous lightning shaped scar.

He sucked in a breath. There was no doubt. This was none other than the boy savior of the world, Harry Potter, and if he didn't bring him back to Hogwarts quick enough there would BE no savior left to save the wizarding world!

But this was the supposedly pampered prince living in the muggle world? The boy could've been mistaken for a street urchin, or even a stray animal for Merlin's sake!

Severus Snape gingerly picked up the boy with great care he only showed when brewing potions, and enveloped the small child nestled in his cloak. Harry had involuntarily curled his fingers on to the professor's cloak and pressed himself closer to the man's warm, beating chest.

The boy was a sack of skin and bones! He weighed literally nothing! Severus noted with mild alarm and concern. He could feel every bone that protruded of the lad's small structure, and if it wasn't for the fact that the boy couldn't do magic yet, he would've thought the child had learned to do a featherlight charm on himself.

Besides the lack of heat that should have been radiating off the child's body, as well as the blue lips of hypothermia, he was concerned of the boy's magical pulse, in which the core was almost snuffed out from the physical strain and illness.

With a billow of his cloak as he crossed the streets with long strides, he sent a silent prayer to Lily; to help her boy hold on to the single thread of life still left.

Unbeknownst to little Harry, he was getting just what he wished for: to be rescued and taken away from his mean uncle and aunty.

As Severus crossed the threshold of the home of one shocked Arabella Figg, he stepped through the floo to Hogwarts.

_Hi fellas, was feeling guilty over not updating and this was stuck on my laptop for a while, never being uploaded. The plot bunny came back and demanded I upload already for ransom. And of course seeing so many people following me but with no updates since, like what, last year? It made me feel a little guilty for becoming one of those authors that leaves a wonderfully good story to never be updated again. That would be…upsetting to me. Of course, I'm not a born writer and my interests are in another area but what usually stops me from writing is my self-conscious. What will people think of me? Is this actually any good? Man, this sounds like shit. Depressing stuff like that. But I guess I'll add some stuff once in a while when I feel like not many good fluffy Severitus stories are out there to appease my hunger for a cute little Harry and an over protective Daddy Snape._

_God, that was embarrassing to write. _


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